03/05/2026
ASIA FEDELE REHAB
I first met during a training camp for the individual athletes of the Italian National Team at Accademia Internazionale di Ginnastica Ritmica di Desio in 2024.
Asia is an extraordinary gymnast, but she presents a significant right-convex scoliosis.
The structural shape of her spine limits her respiratory capacity.
During the 2025 rounds of the Italian Serie A1 Championship, Asia’s floor performances—despite their high technical quality—often ended with marked episodes of dyspnea.
Dyspnea is the medical term used to describe the sensation of shortness of breath or breathing difficulty.
During these episodes, the athlete’s Central Nervous System can enter a state of alarm, struggling to manage such a stressor.
With an elite athlete competing in an open-skill sport, functional assessment must be precise, deep, and carefully structured.
Once the evaluation was completed, I built the intervention strategy around three key pillars:
1 — Strength
By increasing strength, every movement on the floor becomes more energy-efficient.
As a result, the athlete tends to consume less oxygen for the same technical output.
2 — Mobility
Especially in Asia’s case, improving sterno-thoracic mobility meant creating more available space for breathing mechanics.
That translated into greater oxygen intake with each respiratory cycle.
3 — Neural Activations
This was the most complex and profound part of the process.
I needed to teach Asia’s CNS that shortness of breath was a manageable and normal stressor, not a threat.
So we started with short, frequent breath holds and gradually layered additional stressors over time.
The final result was Asia back on the floor, fully able to manage her full 1 minute and 30 seconds routine with confidence and control.
All of this was developed in collaboration with , Asia’s and Italian Team coach, whom I thank for the valuable feedback and constant exchange throughout the process.
Which of the three points interests you the most?
Write it in the comments, and I’ll explore it in more detail in the next post/story.
RUN FAST. JUMP LIGHT
